Looking for that perfect wall centerpiece for your home? Wisconsin-based artist Kelly Rene Jelinek from Little Stag Studio can help you decorate with remarkably realistic taxidermy animals made out of upcycled fabric swatches. A mix of traditional folk art and whimsy, the custom-made animals are real conversation pieces, and above all, cruelty-free.

Using old scraps of upholstery fabric, the artist carefully crafts life-sized deer, caribou, or moose mounts. She says that her artwork, which began with a love of repurposing old upholstery found in thrift stores, represents something traditional and commonplace converted into something new.

According to Jelinek, her inspiration for faux taxidermy comes from her rural upbringing, “As a someone who grew up in rural Wisconsin, I became thoroughly accustomed to seeing taxidermy deer and game mounts – I thought of them as standard items of household decor. Even when I was a small child they never scared or disgusted me – if anything, they fascinated me. That fascination stayed with me into adulthood, and has inspired the artwork that I make today. When I was a teenager, I fell in love with old upholstery and would often come home from flea markets and thrift stores with old chairs for me to experiment on. Later on, when I was in college, the two interests happened to mesh and that’s how the first of my upholstered animals were born.”

If you’d like to add a bit of animalistic design to your home, you can custom order Jelinek’s creations at her Etsy shop.